Sunday, January 15, 2012

Monologue presentations are over!! It was a whole lot of fun and sections C, G, and H rocked the house!!! But with the end of the monologue presentation, we also have to end the first semester of school. :( It's still hard to believe that it's half way over and I've been in NY for about half a year. But I get new teachers and some new classes starting the 17th. My two new classes for this quarter are scene study, and combat for film. Combat for film is going to be fun! I've always been interested in it and I've been taught a few tricks. But it'll be really good to have about 8 weeks to really learn it. Scene study will be very interesting as well. I have my teacher from Acting for Film last semester teaching that class. Which means a lot of work books. But I like doing work, so it's no problem for me.

I went to Bubba Gump for the first time last night with my friends Caleb and Alli. It's pretty cool. It's a restaurant that's based on the movie Forest Gump. It was only a 15 minute wait to get our table, but it felt much longer because we were near the front door and the cold air was constantly blowing in. But once we were in we got our table, all was well. After we ordered our food, the waiter came back and quizzed us on the movie. And we got a lot of the questions right!! :D And our big prize that we won were three mints for after dinner!!! ............................. Yeah, very anti climatic. But it was still very fun. The food there is a little pricy, but what in New York is not. All in all, it was a very good experience.

When I got home, I turned on the TV to find that the Golden Globes were on! I had totally for gotten about them!! Sure they aren't as glamorous as the Tony or Oscar awards, but I still like watching it. Plus, I believe it's the only time that you can see television shows and movies get awards in the same night. There were a lot of good movies that were in the running for the gold. One of the ones I liked, Midnight in Paris, got best screenplay. I remember watching this movie after a shift at the movie theatre and falling in love with it. The writing was so beautiful and it was a joy to watch from start to end. One of my favorite TV shows was nominated that night as well. It didn't win best drama series, but Jessica Lange won the award for best supporting actress for her stunning performance as Constance in American Horror Story. Constance is one of those characters that, for the most part, you like to hate.

I hope she gets to stay on the show. What the writers are wanting to do is that every new season there is a new house and a new haunting. I kind of like this idea. It keeps it fresh. But that also means saying goodbye to a lot of characters that I like. The writers are talking to some of the actors to stay on board for season 2, but they would be playing whole new people. I guess it could be quite challenging to make the audience see that you are now this character, and not the one he played last time. I'm looking forward to seeing how they do with that! :)

Well, that's all I have for now. I'll let you guys know how my new classes/teachers are.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

The main thing on my plate is school. Don't get me wrong, I love my school, and I love doing the work. There's just a lot of it and it currently is my first priority. I finished my Final scene for Acting for Film 1. The scene was from an un-produced script call "Rounder". The scene is set near the ending of the film. In the scene, Darrell asks his friend Tim and his girlfriend Jenn to meet him on the roof. When he goes up there, he shows them his baby nephew that he has in his bag. It being very cold, Tim and Jenn were not pleased. They were ready to leave, when Darrell suggested that they ransom him. Once again, Tim and Jenn are not happy with the idea. And on an impulse, Darrell throws the baby off the roof... I know, very grim. But it was a great scene to shoot. Caleb, who played Tim, and Jay, who played Darrell, were awesome to work with! :D

I've still got some more classes to do before the end of the semester; Acting technique, Meisner, and Shakespeare. My last class of Meisner is tomorrow, and I just ended my Voice and Movement class this morning. Voice and movement today was very interesting. My teacher, Peter, decided to try something different with the monologues that we are doing for our monologue presentation this Saturday. He wanted us to say our monologues, as if we were one of the four main elements; Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Today, we worked all but water. Peter said he wanted to get us out of our usual way of doing it, so we won't always think that there is only one way to do it. The ones that really stood out for me were air and fire. When I did it as air, it almost sounded venomous, like I was going to kill the person I was talking to. And the monologue is actually talking about someone wanting a chance at a relationship with that person. Lol. Fire, on the other hand, had a completely different result from air. After the intense work that we had to do to get to fire, I felt this sense of anger as I was doing the monologue. It was draining, but incredibly fun. Peter told us the more we work with the elements, we can easily tap into it for any scene or monologue. He also told us that we have our own natural element that makes us who we are; for me, I have the movement of either water or air, but the personality of fire. I'm going to try to get a consultation with Peter, that way I can work more with this elemental way of acting.

Another thing I was busy with is the fact that I'm trying to find a job. So far, I've applied to two restaurants. But I haven't heard from them yet. I'll still keep applying, and hopefully someone will take pity on a poor acting student and give her a job. But in the meantime, I'll have to be careful about my budget... I might start having to wash my clothes in the shower to save on using the washing machines in the dorm... Sorry Dee!!

So, I have made a final decision about my second year at NYFA. I'm definitely going to go to Los Angeles! There just seems to be of learning and working opportunities for me over there. Plus, it'll be good to make some connections out there, and I'll be able to know how to work LA if I book a role. Don't worry, to all my NY friends, I'll be back. I'm still on the look out for a roommate. Give me a shout out if you are interested!!

Well, that's all I have for now. I'll let you know how the monologue presentation I have on Saturday goes!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Two days ago, I flew home. It wasn't the greatest experience of my life. On my first flight, I was by the exit door on the side of the plane. At first there was no problem with this. But then I realized, for safety purpose, they removed the dinner trays that are usually on the back of the seat in front of you and put it in the arm rest. I don't know about you guys, but I like to sleep on those things. And since I was in an aisle seat, I couldn't rest on the wall. So I had to lean forward and put my head on my lap. Not very comfortable. I would have used my kindle or my lap top to keep me occupied, but the flight was over two and a half hours long, and I had only a 30 minute delay before my next flight. So I decided that I would do all my writing and reading on the next flight.

However, on the next flight, I was up closer to the front, right behind the first class area. But there was another problem. One, no dinner tray in front of me again. And then, since I was in the front of the coach area, there was no seat in front of me to put my stuff. At first I thought, okay, I'll just have to make sure that it doesn't go flying. But then, a flight attendant came up to me and told me that my bag had to be put in the over hand bins, since I was in the front. Then, we quickly put it away, with both my lap top and my kindle, and everything else. Including my phone, so I couldn't even listen to my music. I know you're thinking that why couldn't I just get up and get it when the captain told us we can move around. Well, I would have. But they put my purse in the front class area. And I wasn't sure to how they would react if someone from coach came and opened one of their bins.

Later in the flight, the flight attendant came by and asked me what I wanted to drink I told him what I wanted and asked if I could have some pretzels or chips. I had only a slice of red velvet cake before I left my house in Texas. The man, however, told me that they didn't serve complimentary chips or peanuts, and they didn't have any pretzels. Now this was strange. On about every flight that I could remember being on, they would always have some kind of complimentary food. I guess not on US Airlines.

So, I don't know if my seat positions on these flights were bad, or if the Airlines themselves weren't that great, but I'm going to do my best to be on Southwest, or any different airlines the next time I fly.

But once I got home, I started getting ready to see the show that first made me want to start acting; Peter Pan. I left my room around 5:15 that afternoon. I'd never been to Madison Square Garden before, and I didn't want to be late. Once I found it, I got my ticket and rushed inside. I bought to souvenirs; a program, and a shirt that says "Never Grow Up". I told my mother about the shirt and she said that it was very fitting for me. :) I was pretty far from the stage when I got to my seat. But I didn't mind. I was just happy that I got to see the show. When the lights went down, it took everything in me not to start screaming.

It was a bit noisy in the crowd because a lot of children were there to see the show. But for some reason, it didn't really bother me. The only time I was bothered was when the guy next to me shushed the kids who where two rows in front of us. I don't know about you guys, but I think that shushing people is more disruptive then the people you're shushing. Also, if their not you're kids, you should leave it to the parents to quiet the children. I wanted so badly to turn to the guy and say, "I hope one day you have noisy children and people shush you. That you can feel embarrassed." I didn't say it, of course. But I REALLY wanted to.

Other than that, the show was amazing! What I really loved about this show was that it had elements of the book as well as the regular show. But I think my favorite part has to be in the beginning of act two the song Ugawug that the lost boys and indians sing/dance. It was incredible. I didn't cry as much as I thought I would. In fact the only time I cried was when the audience claps to save Tinkerbell. I kept thinking to myself, why are you crying? You know she's going to be alright! It was probably old memories seeping in.

Cathy Rigby played an amazing Peter. Don't get me wrong, I love the Mary Martin Peter, but she plays it like Peter is a very nice person. Plus, she was very tall and. Someone who looks like their 5'8 can't really pull off a six year old boy. But Cathy portrayed her Peter as if she was playing him from the book. In the book, Peter is very playful with a bit of a mean streak. Cathy certainly did the character justice, and almost had me forgetting that it was a woman playing Peter and not a boy.

All in all, the show and all the actors in it were truly stunning.

Yesterday, was the ever famous ball drop. I got up and ate my dinner very early so I wouldn't be hungry. I packed a bag of pretzels and a bottle of water that way I wouldn't be starving by midnight. I left my house around 2pm and arrived on 42nd street 30 minutes later. Even then, the police were putting up the barricades. I had to walk all the way to 49th street in order to find an opening for me to get in. I was so far in the back that I could barely see the monitor that showed what was happening on the stage. But I didn't really care. All I cared about was seeing the ball drop at midnight. I sat down every few minutes to give my aching back and legs a break, only getting up to do the count down of every hour before the ball actually dropped. When the ball dropped, I recorded the whole thing on my camera. It was a very good feeling that I felt at that moment. All my life, I had only watched the ball drop on the T.V.. But now, I got to see it live!! I'm not sure it's something I want to do again, unless I get a VIP pass or something. But, it was definitely a night that I will never forget.

And now, for my New Year's resolution! I'm going to give 150% in my career as an actress! I'm also going to make an effort to exercise every single day, that way I'll be nice and fit.